


The One Good Thing About Alicante

by Humansunshine



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood is a chaotic gay, Aline Penhallow is a functional lesbian, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, mlm and wlw solidarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-29 02:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15063155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Humansunshine/pseuds/Humansunshine
Summary: Alec hates business trips to Alicante, but at least it means he gets to spend time with his childhood best friend, Aline Penhallow





	The One Good Thing About Alicante

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LesbianDaeneryss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianDaeneryss/gifts).



> "If Alec and Aline were best friends in Idris then he would've known Sebastian Verlac" SHUT UP IDC
> 
> Prompted by LesbianSansa, who wanted to see Alec and Aline interact. Hope you like it!

Alec hated the pomp of Alicante. Most of the people had forgotten what it was like to be a real shadowhunter, out on the streets fighting demons day in, day out. He was away from Magnus, he had to sit through loads of meetings where nothing was accomplished, and the food was bland and unsatisfying. The one good thing about Alicante was the fact that Aline lived there.

“Come over after your last meeting,” she’d told him, “I have beer and a stereo, and Helen’s in Beijing.” 

He and Aline had been close when they were children. They joked now that they sensed ‘the gay’ on each other and gravitated together for support. Aline had come out to him years ago, long before he came out himself, and they called each other every couple of months to check in. He could depend on Aline to make him laugh, and before he met Magnus he’d been halfway tempted to transfer to Alicante just to be closer to her and Max. 

“I brought gin,” he grinned as she answered the door, holding up the fancy bottle, and she rolled her eyes, tugging him inside. 

“Magnus has rubbed off on you. God, look at that shirt! You look amazing!” Aline looked him up and down, taking the bottle from him. “Is that a French tuck?!” 

“Queer Eye has changed our lives forever,” Alec said solemnly, following her through to the living room. Aline’s apartment was just outside the citadel; the barracks inside were reserved for higher-ranking members of the Clave and academy students. 

Aline scoffed, putting the gin on the coffee table and fetching Alec a glass. “Helen keeps mocking me because I painted our bedroom slate blue.” 

“You did not!” 

“It’s cool but warm at the same time!” Aline defended, and Alec snorted, making himself a gin and tonic as they threw themselves on the couch. “God… I can’t believe you grew up, man. I thought you’d be wearing skinny jeans and a ratty leather jacket forever.” 

“You also thought I was straight,” Alec quipped, crossing his legs, one ankle resting on his knee.

“You thought you were straight back then.” 

Alec smirked, shrugging one shoulder. “Touche. How’s Helen?” 

“She’s good, we’re good. Busy. You’d think now my Mom is Consul and her position is secure she’d cut me some slack, but nope. The very opposite. She keeps sending Helen to like, the furthest possible missions. I’m like, Mom, we’ve been together for almost three years, a few nights a week apart isn’t going to kill us.” Aline groaned, letting her head drop against the back of the couch. “She’s a nightmare. I wish you’d taken that council job so she’d have another gay to pick on.” 

“There was no way I was gonna leave Magnus. I couldn’t cope with long distance, I miss him like crazy now, and it’s only been like a day.” Alec admitted, scratching the back of his neck. 

“How’s it going with him? Last time we spoke you said you guys had had a fight.” Aline raised an eyebrow. “Trouble in paradise?” 

“I don’t know,” Alec sighed, slouching a little further down into the couch. “I asked to move in with him, and it-”

“You did what?!” 

Alec wrinkled his nose, glaring at her playfully. 

“You’ve been together for like… A couple of months. Dude…” She laughed, poking him in the ribs. “You should have asked me for advice first! This is why we’re friends! I would’ve told you that was a terrible idea.” 

“Well, I know for the future,” Alec grumbled, taking a gulp of his drink. “I mean it wasn’t terrible. He said he’d like to move in together, but just not right yet. Which I hate because I just want to be with him all the time. Like, all the time. I stay there six nights of the week anyway.”

“It’s different, living together. Never getting a break. Trust me, this is for the best.” Aline assured him. 

Alec opened his mouth to tell her about their fight about immortality, but he hesitated. She sighed and waved her hand in a slow circle. 

“Come out with it, you big lug, hit me with it. What did you do?” 

“He has this box of stuff, I caught him looking in it one morning, the morning we talked about moving in together. And then he left, and I just had to…” He grimaced. “It was a bad idea.”

“You did not look in it?!” Aline gasped. 

Alec shrugged. “It was stupid.”

“No shit!” 

“I told him and apologised right away. But it was a box of memories of his exes who died because they were mortal. And it was… Weird. There was stuff from hundreds of years ago that he’s still holding onto. And…” Alec sighed, meeting Aline’s eyes. “Is it wrong that it bothers me?” 

Aline considered it, scratching her chin. “That depends. Why is it bothering you?” 

“I just get this… Anxiety. Like I’m just one in a long line. When he’s my whole world. You know what I mean? He’s the absolute centre of my life. And yeah, I’m the centre of his life now, but there have been other people he’s loved just as much, and there’ll be others after I’m gone. And… I don’t know. Does it mean less? Does that…” Alec swished his hand, searching for the right word, “negate its value? I don’t know. I don’t doubt that he loves me, but… He won’t love me forever like I’ll love him forever.” 

“But the fact that Magnus held on so long to these other people just proves that on some level, he does still nurture that love he felt for them somewhere in his heart. And I’m sure that it’ll be the same with you. Of course he’ll love you forever, Alec. Just because he’ll love someone else too, it doesn’t mean he loves you any less. There’s no finite supply of love.” Aline told him, uncharacteristically serious, and Alec looked away, letting her words sink in. 

“Shit, man. That’s deep.” Alec breathed, finishing off his drink. 

Aline smirked. “Hey, what am I here for if not to be your smarter, wiser big sister, huh?” She snuggled into his side, and he put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her lightly. 

“Dunno what I’d do without you,” Alec admitted. “So, about your Mom. I think I have an idea.” 

“Yeah?” Aline mused, turning her beer bottle slowly in her hands. 

“So Helen comes to work with me for a mission, right? We’ll invent a reason. I’ll tie some mission into her expertise and ask for her, and then,” Alec held up a single finger, “I spend the next month waxing poetic about how great she is and ask Jia to transfer her to New York.” 

Aline rolled her eyes. “Uh huh, what then?”

“Then you wait a couple of weeks and I invent another mission where you have to come over…”

“Ahhh, this is all about recruiting me.” 

Alec shrugged. “I need good people. You and Helen good people. Besides, I’ve got Underhill as head of security, Iz as weapons master. I need a head of training and an intelligence officer. I want to have a senior staff comprised entirely of queer people. It’s my gay dream. Are you gonna ruin my gay dream, Aline?” 

Aline sighed like his words personally inconvenienced him. “I’ll think about it.”

**Author's Note:**

> LET ALEC HAVE FRIENDS


End file.
